The Detroit News interviewed Jack Roush at his recent induction into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame. Roush joined other Michigan luminaries such as Eddie Murphy – the Detroit Lions kicker and Pro Bowl MVP in his rookie year, Steve Fraser – America’s First Olympic Gold Medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling, George Blaha – now in his 30th year as the voice of the Detroit Pistons, and many others.

Roush’s career began at Ford Motor Company and his interest in racing bloomed there. He joined a group called “The Fastbacks” in 1966 and began drag racing. In 1969, he left Ford and started buying equipment to improve The Fastbacks’ results. It was not long before he was also doing development work for other race teams. He continued in the drag racing business for many years, eventually moving more to the operations side and specializing in engine building.

Road racing became an activity of interest in 1982 and by 1984, Roush was competing in both SCCA and IMSA series, winning the Manufacturer’s Championship for Lincoln Mercury that year. In the years that followed, Roush racked up another two dozen national championships in the two series, as well as ten consecutive Sedan Class championships in the 24 Hours of Daytona.

1988 saw Roush grow to include a NASCAR Winston Cup team, with rookie Mark Martin driving. That first year, they earned ten top-ten finishes and one pole position. Roush’s successes in NASCAR since that beginning are legendary. In recent years,

Aside from the racing activities, Roush is chairman of Roush Industries and ROUSH Performance. The former provides engineering, custom manufacturing and support services to auto companies around the world. The latter company builds ROUSH-branded specialty vehicles including the ROUSH 427R Mustang. Recently, the company has been successful in converting and selling propane powered vehicles based on the Ford line of trucks.

Roush is also an avid aviation enthusiast and runs the only FAA-certified rebuild facility for Rolls Royce-Merlin engines in the United States.